Across the world and across borders, countries are coming together to facilitate solar energy developments.
Nicaragua's president, Daniel Ortega, recently approved a large-scale solar plant to be built by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), as reported by Microgrid Media. This partnership marks a renewed diplomatic relationship between the two countries and a step toward cleaner, greener energy.
Plans are underway to build a 67.3-megawatt solar facility in the Matagalpa department in Nicaragua and another 63-megawatt solar plant in San Isidro (also within Matagalpa). The projects, largely funded by Chinese loans, will cost approximately $162 million and have significant political implications, per the news outlet.
Nicaragua and China had been strengthening their connection for several months leading up to this solar agreement, kicked off by signing a free trade agreement in August 2023. Last December, a telephone call between Ortega and Chinese president Xi Jinping inspired a strategic partnership for cooperation and exchanges in energy, technology, and security, according to the Tico Times in Costa Rica.
Nicaragua's partnership with China, the world's second-largest economy, is crucial in facilitating these energy developments. Relations with the U.S. have been strained due to the Ortega-Murillo regime's human rights abuses and illegitimate election, per the U.S. State Department.
Yet Nicaragua's relationship with China has it positioned for growth and change, especially as China has also become involved in developing a high-speed electric railway and liquid petroleum gas infrastructure in Nicaragua, Microgrid Media noted.
Per the Tico Times, CCCC president Wang Tongzhou said that his company is increasing investments in this part of Central America to "maximize our competitiveness in infrastructure and make more contributions to the friendship between China and Nicaragua."
Among ongoing Chinese investments in energy, transportation, and housing, the people of Nicaragua may be able to live more sustainable lives with affordable solutions that take less of a toll on the planet. New solar installations like this one have the potential to lower the cost of energy, especially as new research shows that the more solar energy you install, the cheaper it gets.
"These are historic, extraordinary moments for the country, within the framework of the development of the brotherhood relationship between Nicaragua and China," said Laureano Ortega Murillo, a presidential advisor and son of the Nicaraguan president, per the Tico Times.
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